Technical Communication Research: From Traditional to Virtual

Researchers in technical communication have recently begun to take advantage of the interactions taking place via computer-mediated communication as a rich source for research. Yet, although research in cyberspace is growing, there are few guidelines for researchers to follow. This article reviews three forms of technical communication research methods (ethnography, rhetorical analysis, and surveys) and raises preliminary issues to consider when using such research methods in cyberspace. These issues include privacy and author permissions.     

Radio Archives and Preservation in Latin America: A Preliminary Overview

This article surveys efforts at preservation and diffusion of archival radio in Latin America. The region’s largest radio archives are housed within large sound libraries in Brazil and Mexico. Mexico’s Fonoteca Nacional, for example, houses the archives of XEW/Televisa Radio, the nation’s most important radio network. In countries like Argentina and Chile, radio preservation and diffusion has been a component of efforts to document and preserve the public memory of revolution and dictatorship during the Cold War era. While much remains to be done to secure the region’s radio patrimony, Latin American radio preservation has advanced significantly in recent years.     

Learning experiences in a giant interactive environment: insights from The Cube

In November 2012, Queensland University of Technology in Australia launched a giant interactive learning environment known as The Cube. This article reports a phenomenographic investigation into visitors’ different experiences of learning in The Cube. At present very little is known about people’s learning experience in spaces featuring large interactive screens. We observed many visitors to The Cube and interviewed 26 people. Our analysis identified critical variation across the visitors’ experience of learning in The Cube. The findings are discussed as the learning strategy (in terms of absorption, exploration, isolation and collaboration) and the content learned (in terms of technology, skills and topics). Other findings presented here are dimensions of the learning strategy and the content learned, with differing perspectives on each dimension. These outcomes provide early insights into the potential of giant interactive environments to enhance learning approaches and guide the design of innovative learning spaces in higher education.     

The challenges and possibilities of aligning large‐scale testing with mathematical reform: the case of Ontario

In 1997, the Ontario government, like many other jurisdictions, undertook systemic reform of their elementary school mathematics programme, developing a new mathematics curriculum, report card, and province‐wide assessment. The curricular reform embodied a new vision of mathematics learning and instruction that emphasized instruction using challenging problems, the student construction of multiple solution methods, and mathematical communication and defence of ideas. While the design of the original large‐scale assessment incorporated much of the latest research and theory on effective practices at that time, these traditional item development and scoring practices no longer adequately assess mathematics achievement in reform‐inspired classrooms. The difficulties of marrying traditional assessment practices with a reform‐inspired curriculum could be addressed by creating a construct definition from the recent research findings on students’ mathematical development in reform‐inspired classrooms. The importance, challenges and implications of redefining the construct on the basis of existing research on students’ mathematical development, as well as collapsing the traditional content‐by‐process matrix for item development, are explored.     

User Behaviour in Relation to Electronic Information Services within the UK Higher Education Academic Community

The User Behaviour Monitoring and Evaluation Framework has been established to investigate and profile the use of electronic information services (EIS) within higher education in the UK. Electronic information services are defined as: collections of information tools/products delivered to requesting users electronically, and usually computer mediated. This encompasses media of all types. This article discusses aspects of the methodology of the Framework, and preliminary findings from the first annual cycle of the Framework. Findings are based on interactions with 1500 users, including academic staff, library and information services staff, and students. Executed through three strands, the framework methodology uses an array of quantitative and qualitative approaches to lend a variety of insights into user behaviour with electronic information services, factors that encourage the use of electronic information services, and those that act as barriers to the effective integration of electronic information services into the learning experience.     

Learning to contribute: text connections in early childhood teacher education

ABSTRACT

Face-to-face time with students in the early childhood college setting is at a premium and often flies by before we begin to scratch the surface of active learning. Building a community of learners is one of our main goals as instructors; therefore, we strive to set up active learning environments optimal for all students. This reflection on practice highlights the text connections learning strategy, describes how four early childhood education instructors use it, and analyzes its theoretical underpinnings to investigate how it helps students learn to contribute to the learning of all. Student examples and reflections from the instructors are included.     

Contributions of the Family Resemblance Approach to Nature of Science in Science Education

Science & Education - The emergence of the Family Resemblance Approach (FRA) to nature of science (NOS) has prompted a fresh wave of scholarship embracing this new approach in science...     

Orson Scott Card’s Ender and Bean: The Exceptional Child as Hero

Orson Scott Cards school stories in outer space, Enders Game and Enders Shadow, purportedly occur at the same time and tell the same story, but from the perspectives of two different child protagonists. Scenes in Enders Shadow even reproduce text from Enders Game. Nevertheless, 14 years elapsed between the publications of the two books. This essay brings child studies and exceptionality research to bear on the two novels, analyzing the development of Cards ideology regarding his view of the exceptional child and his view of the nature of heroism in a post-modern world.